User Reviews

Made-for-TV PSA short about how much it sucks to get your vehicle stolen. It stars Johnny Five from the Short Circuit movies. The short starts with Johnny becoming an American citizen and moving into the suburbs. Then his pickup truck is stolen and he goes to the police department to report it, which is where the lectures begin. It's pretty stupid but amusing enough. I admit I was smiling during most of it. Perhaps that's due to the nostalgia of seeing Johnny Five. He's not voiced by the same actor from the movies, by the way. Here he sounds like a Michael Jackson impersonator. Anyway it's worth a look if you can find it on YouTube or something. Good for a few laughs and some nostalgic kicks seeing the robot from Short Circuit in something different. Also there are lots of tips for budding car thieves, which was probably something the makers of this didn't think through that much.

Made by the California Department of Justice, Hot Cars, Cold Facts is a PSA that aims to teach teens about the dangers and consequences of stealing automobiles. To get the attention of younger viewers (and because Hollywood is in their state), they managed to get Johnny 5, the robot star of Short Circuit and its sequel, to star in it alongside other characters.

The plot is Johnny 5 (voiced here by Russell Turner instead of Tim Blaney, possibly because either Tim was too busy, or CalDOJ was too cheap to cough up the cash needed to bring him in), as he is enjoying his new life as a U.S. citizen until his pick-up truck is stolen while he is in sleep mode (the intro shows two men removing the seats, probably so he can fit with his body design), What results is a lazily-written script (with the writer being Steve Erkel, whose name sounds too close to a certain character, possibly done to hide his or her real name due to how ashamed he or she is of this).

Yeah, this is not a good PSA. The main problem is that Russel does not do a good job doing Johnny Five's voice, as he sounds too light. Helping him find his truck is his neighbor, Lisa, played by Gina Ravera (who back then, was new to being an actress), and is possibly the only good actress here, and actually gives the good hints. The other actors seen basically don't know how to act (whoever played the waitress is trying too hard to be funny). However, one of the things she does is explain some of the methods used, which, while informative, can be seen as a sort of no-no as it can also be teaching kids how to get into the illegal business (not something you'd want to do in a PSA telling kids not to commit auto theft). While it does teach a good lesson, it could have been done a lot better.